Car-coupling.



$.15. DIGKERSON.

OAR COUPLING.

APYLIGATION FILED 1330.11, 1912.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

z ENTOR. M BZY /.a f ATTORNEY.

WITNESSES.

UNITED STATES PATENT are.

SIMEON K. DICKERSON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

GAE-COUPLING.

i',osv,222.-

To all whom it may concern Be it known that LSnrnori I.'\DICKER- sort, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Car-Couplers, of which the ollowing is a specification.

The invention relates to car couplers, and more particularly to that portion of the cou pler known as the coupler pocket. It has for its primary objects, the provision of an improved form of pocket having a supporting shelf and capable of reversal; the provision of a pocket of the character specified which can be reversed to suit bumper'beams located at different heights, or which may be reversed on the same bumper beam to give an adjustment in the height. of the bearing face of the shelf. The pocket is particularly designed for use with locomotives and tenders, but it will be understood that the device is not limited to such use. One embodiment of the invention 15 illustrated in the accompanying drawlngs Wherein-F1gure 1 is -a .side elevation of the coupler pocket, with acoupler head connected thereto, Fig.

2 is a side elevation of the coupler pocket alone, and in reversed position upon a bumper beam having a difierent height above the track thanthe bumper beam of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a half plan view of the coupler pocket, and Fig. 4: is a plan view .of the detachable supporting shelf-employed in the pocket.

The coupler pocket comprises a base portion 1 adapted to bear against the usual bumper beam 2; a socket portion 3 adapted to receive the shank of the coupler head, and a supporting shelf portion 1. The coupler head 5 may be of any approved form, and is provided with a shank 4 fitting into the socket 3 and secured in position by means of the usual pin 6.

The supporting shelf 4- is provided upon its upper face with a bearing surface 7 (Fig. 4) adapted to lie beneath and engage the portion 8 of the coupler head, and is suitably stifi'ened by ribs and provided with bolt holes 99 and 10-10. Bolts 11-11 with counter sunk heads extend through the holes 1010 and through the bottom wall of the socket 3, and such bolts 1111 take the .weight imposedupon the shelf by the coupler head; Other bolts 12-42 extend through the holes 99 .and through corre- Specifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb.17,1914.

Application filed Decemberll, 1912. Serial No. 736,071.

'sponding holes in ribs 13 carried by the socket 3. The weight upon the shelf tends to force the left hand end of such shelf upward, and in order to oppose this movement spacing sleeves 14 are provided around the bolts 12.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the socket 3 which carries the shank of the coupler head is placed ofi" center with respect to the base 1 of the pocket, the center line A of the socket 3 lying closer, to the bottom edge of the base 1 than to its upper edge. The base plate is held in position by means of bolts'15 and 16, and the center line of the bolt 16 is nearer to the center line A of the pocket than is the center line of the upper bolt 15. As a result of this unsymmetrical placing of the base 1 and its securing means with respect to the socket, it will be seen that when the base plate 1 and the socket 3 carried thereby are reversed, the center line of the socket is shifted upward, thus giving a vertical adjustment of the socket. This reversal of the device brings the supporting shelf 4 uppermost, in which position it would interfere with the portion 17 of the coupler head, and would cease to be of service in supporting the coupler head. The construction as heretofore indicated, permits of its removal, and as the other side of the socket 3 is formed similarly to the side which carries the shelf, the plate may be se-' cured to such other side, the front bolts 11-11 atsuch time passing through the holes 18 through the upper wall of the socket 3. It will therefore be apparentthat by the foregoing. procedure the pocket may be re versed in position upon its beam, and that in so reversing the pocket the center line of the socket is shifted vertically a given distance, depending upon the amount the base 1 is off center with respect to the socket. The rear bolts 12 would be of course shifted to the other side of the ribs 13 when reversal 'occurs. This shift of adjustment might be. desirable for various reasons, such as wear upon the tires of the wheels, sagging of springs, or other causes tending toproduce a downward movement of the body of the tender, "locomotive, or car to which the bumper beam is attached.

The feature of reversal also permits the application of my coupler pocket to bumper beams of different heights, while still maintaining the center lines of the socket portions of the devices upon the same level. This ivill be readily understood. by comparison of'Fig. 2 of the drawing with Fig. 1, Fig. 2 of the drawing, illustrating the coupler pocket applied to a bumper beam 2 lying at a level below that of the bumper beam 2 of Fig. l, While yet maintaining the socket portions with v the common center line A. It will be seen that in Fig. 2 the device has been inverted, and that the. pocket is thus elevated a sufiicient distance to compensate for the lower level of the bumper beam 2. The supporting shelf 4: fits equally Well upon either side of the pocket 8, and in both positions its bearing face which engages the portion 8 of the ccupler head isat the same distance from the center line A of the socket.

The structure as heretofore described. is of course merely illustrative of the broad principle of invention involved, and the specific structure may be Widely modified Without departing from the invention, which comprchends broadly the use of a socket pertion with its base or the securing means therefor off center With respect to thecenter line of the socket, in connection with a removable supporting shelf adapted to be secured either to the upper or to the lower side of the socket, so that the device will be provided with a supporting means for the coupler head when the pocket is reversed.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, What I claim as new and denies or patent m be obtained for desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the fol lowing:

1. In combination 111 a coupler pocket, a socket portion having similar bearing faces upon lts upper and lower sides at the same distance from the center line of the socket,

a supporting shelf having a bearing face upon one side adapted to fit either one of said snnllar bearing faces, means for securing the shelf detachably in position with itsv bearing face engaging either one of said bearing faces on the socket, and a base portion located oil center vertically With respect to the center line of the socket.

at a distance therefrom diiferent from the distance of the holes below the center line from such center line.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed Witnesses.

s. K. DICKERSON.

' Witnesses:

R. M. BROWN,

' R. Dorr.

five cents each, by addressing the Gammis'sioner of Patents. Washington, D. Q. 

